Tunnel Vision Read Online Free PDF Page A

idiots.”
    “Well, right now I’m grounded on easy street, and trust me, just because the moms get along doesn’t mean they’re always easy to get along with.” Betty sighed. “They’re still just parents, and right now they’re pretty pissed off at me.”
    “All I’m saying is you need to stop dragging Jake along,” said June. “I mean, I’m sure he’s enjoying the fringe benefits of hanging out with a lady with your experience, but—”
    “Fuck you,” said Betty with a frown. “I’m not the one who lost my virginity at summer camp.”
    “Cold-blooded,” said June as Betty tittered, and then the bell rang. “All right, we can debate this later, I guess,” she said, and then they were running from the locker room with the flood of girls headed to the gym.
    Down the hall Betty could see Jake and a few of his hockey-playing friends as they spilled into the gym from the boys’ locker room.
    He’s cute , mused Betty, but June is right.
    As cute or cut as Jake might be, he was so far from what she imagined in a boyfriend that it was hard to believe they’d lasted the few months they had. What the hell was she thinking? There was some edgy something about him, though he’d never been anything but funny, cute, and an utter gentleman with her. Maybe it was that dark streak that drew her to him. Jake rarely shied from a fight, on the ice or off it, and Betty had vivid memories of him beating a kid who’d asked for her number outside the mall last summer. The kid had been pushy, but Jake knew he was stronger, and he smiled when he hurt him. She hadn’t been drawn to that , she knew that much. Betty could remember the kid’s screams even more vividly than she could the images of the event that had been all but burned into her mind.
    The girls mixed with the boys in the gym, and the class of sixty lined up in front of their PE teacher, Ms. Suzanne Carpowitz, a.k.a. the Carp. The Carp had earned her nickname from more than just a play on words: the unfortunately pear-shaped and utterly ageless gym instructor had an upturned nose and an absolutely enormous pair of lips. So far as anyone attending her classes knew, Ms. Carpowitz had been called the Carp behind her back since time out of memory, and there had been more than one occasion where another teacher had slipped up and referred to the aggressive woman by her less than complimentary name.
    Fishlike or not, the Carp was a brutal taskmaster, and despite her unathletic appearance, she was as agile and strong as any of the varsity athletes. It was amazing. The Carp seemed to excel at whatever activity they happened to be doing, from tennis to wrestling.
    With a wave of the Carp’s hand and a growled “Warm up,” the coed class began some light calisthenics. Two minutes later, the Carp blew her whistle and the class began to run between the painted lines of the track that rounded the perimeter of the gym.
    Betty had never been much for running. She enjoyed cardio, at least as it pertained to the judo classes she took with her mother, but felt like there was something inherently stupid about just running in a circle. Still, she was dutifully running along in a group with June, not speaking, just pumping her legs and waiting for the Carp to blow her whistle, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
    Still running, she turned her head to see that June had dropped out of the pack and that Jake was now jogging next to her. He gave Betty a short wave, and she faked a smile.
    “What’s wrong?” Jake asked for maybe the two hundredth time. “Please don’t just tell me you’re fine again, I’m serious. Was it something I did?”
    “I’m just grounded and irritable,” said Betty as she spared a look to the Carp. The gym teacher had a hawk’s eye and a hatred for talking in place of sweating.
    All Betty could think as she looked at Jake was what a stupid mistake this whole thing was. The poor boy obviously felt something for her that was never going to be